Improvement in telegraph-sounders



R. E. HOUSE.

TELEGRAPH SOUNDERS.

Patented July 25, 1876.

N. PETERS, FNOTO UTHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON. D. C,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE.

OYAL HOUSE,OFBINGHAMTON, NEW YORK.

' IMPROVEMENT IN TELEGRAPHSOU NDERS.'

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 180,094, dated July 25, 1876; application filed July 1, 1876. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROYAL E. HOUSE, of Binghamtou, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented a new and of the same, reference being bad to the ac-,

companying drawing, forming a part of this specificatiom-iii which- My invention is represented by a perspective view, as shown in Figure 1, and a section of the same, as shown in Fig. 2, taken in the line w m, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference inthe drawings denote the same parts.

' This application is a division o-fa former application, filed by me in the Patent ()fliice June 17,1870. 1 v

This invention relates to that class of telegraphsin which electric impulses transmitted along a wire from the sending to the receiving station are employed, through the operation of suitable mechanism, to produce at the receiving-station audible sounds, which represent the letters or other symbols of the message. The essential elements for producing the sounds are, of course, a hammer operated either by the currents of the main line or by the local power, and a suitable anvil, upon which it strikes. In operating by the currents of the mainline, where the line is long. or the weather is damp, the escape'of electricity from the wires is so great that the feeble currents which reach the receiving-station are hardly able to move the hammer, and the sounds, if there is any movement, are so slight as to be nearly or quite inaudible. The same result may also be experienced occasionally, to a greater or less extent, when operating the hammers by a feeble local power. The object of this part of my invention is, therefore, to provide means by which the slightest movements of the hammers will'make distinctly audible sounds; and to this end it consists in an anvil or sonorous plate of new and improved construction, substantially as I will now proceed to describe.

In the drawings, A is the receiving-instrument of a telegraph-line. Its form, construction,and mode of operation are entirely uue ssential, provided, only, that it is furnished 7 with hammers which are set in operation, di-

made of thin plate-glass,.b, surrounded by wooden frame or hoop, b, and mounted upon a suitable support, 0, held in a slot,'d, inthe frame of the instrument, in such a manner that by means of the screw-clamps c e 0 or otherwise, it can be adjusted back and forthtoward and from the operator, while its outer end, nearest to the operator, can be adjusted higher or lower, as his convenience may require. The'plate is intended to be relatively larger, and to project farther from its support, than is shown in the drawings, my design being that it shall extend alongside of the ear of the operator as he sits writing at the table T,

so that while his eyes and hands'are free to.

write out the dispatch that is coming over the. line his ear will detect the slightestsounds by which the message-symbols are manifested; and the adjustment of the outer end of the plate up and down is to exactly accommodate it to his stature or his position at the table.

I am aware that disks of glass supported near their center, with their edges free to vibrate, and operating to all intents andpurposes the same as bells, have been heretofore employed for receiving the strokesof the hammers, and I do not claim such device as my invention. I11 bells and other similar devices, such as I have just referred to, the difficulty is that the vibrations continue too long, and, when'the instrument is worked rapidly, run into each 0ther,so that the strokes of the hammer become undistinguishable. My invention,

therefore, does not consist, broadly,'in using glass sounders, although I consider glass best for the purpose, but rather in combining with the sonorous glass 21. less sonorous .material, which, by its contact with the glass immediately after the stroke, shall arrest the vibrations, and instantly stop the sound, so that the successive strokes of the hammer will be distinctly audible. I find the surrounding wooden frame to answer the purpose admirably, although inactual contact with the glass all the time. 7 l y I find by experiment that some of the sonorous metals, and even wood with small metal pegs or plates for the hammers to strike on, will answer in place of the glass, thoughnot so well and that some other hard and partially sonorous substances will answer in place of the wood, though not so well; while substances not sonorous cannot be substituted for the glass, and substances not to some ex tent sonorous, when used for the frame, deaden the sound of the glass more than I desire, and, i when too sonorous, permit or cause too much vibration. I prefer, therefore, as the best construction, the glass combined with thewood. as described, although'I consider any combination of a sonorous body for receiving the stroke of the hammer with a less sonorous body for instantly arresting the secondary vibrations thereof as coming within the limits of my invention, when used for the purpose herein referred to; and, so far as the project'- ing form of the sounder and its adjustability are concerned, those characteristics are obviously independent of any materials of which it or its frame may be constructed.

In those instruments in which the hammers are in the circuits and charged at times with be of glass, or else the'partstruck by the hammers should be insulated, was to prevent the currents from being'discharged by any persons accidentally touching the sounder.

Having thus described this part of my invention, I claim as new- 1. In electric tele 'ra )hs a sounder )ro'ect-- e i 1 lug from the receimug-instrument to or near the ear of the operator, and arranged in such relation to the table that he can conveniently hold his ear close to the sounder while writing upon the table, substantially as described.

2. In electric telegraphs, a sounder combined with a less sonorous material, for instantly arresting the vibrations thereof, substantially as described.

3. In electric telegraphs, a sounder adjustable substantially as and for the purposes set forth. l

4. In electric telegraphs, the combination of the plate b with the surrounding frame I), substan tially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. In electric telegraphs, the combination of a glass plate or anvil with a surrounding frame'of Wood, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

' ROYAL E.HOUSE. Witnesses: Y y

E. A. ELLSWORTH,

L. HILL. v 

